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Filmmaker Nicole Holofcener recently received a Academy-Award nomination for adapted screenplay and won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film "Can You Ever Forgive Me?." We'll revisit our conversation with Nicole – when she stopped by we talked about another one of her recent projects, "The Land of Steady Habits." She'll also discuss her childhood growing up among Hollywood filmmaking royalty. Show notes

Kwan's trilogy is essentially about the crazy rich people of Singapore, but the main story in the first book Crazy Rich Asians centers around Rachel and Nick-a young couple who've been dating for two years. They're both professors living in contemporary New York. Very much in love- Nick finally invites Rachel to travel to Singapore to meet his family. Curiously, Rachel knows nothing about them and once she gets there realizes that they are insanely, filthy, rich billionaires.

The panelists give us their rundown of the most fascinating themes and threads in the books including: the food, the fashion, colonialism's legacy, money vs. class, tensions between Singaporeans and mainland Chinese, hierarchies among Asian nations, assumptions about Oliver T'sien's sexuality, and then they decide who from the book they'd marry, fuck, kill, (and add to their book club). As if that weren't enough, one of the panelists--and we won't say which one--muses, "Maybe she was dickmatized?" Feel free to guess which one of our esteemed panelists said that in the comments section below.

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Margaret is all about the Kevin Kwan's descriptions of Astrid's fashion "it-girlness." Astrid is Nick's cousin who is super beautiful, posh, and interesting. She's every panelists favorite character in the series. Karen is all about the reading list in the second book China Rich Girlfriend that is given to a character who is undergoing an image makeover. The character hires an image consultant who is trying to teach her about all the "right" things to talk about and all the "right" cultural references to use in conversation. Guy is all about the pineapple tarts described in the book in that they represent the very fascinating place of colonialism in Singapore's history. Spoiler alert: Singapore was under British rule for about 400 years. These tarts are an Asian modification of a French dessert that represent nostalgia, warmth, and memories of home, but also symbolize status.